‘Welfare state is a necessity for Pakistan’, pointed out aptly by Dr Faisal Bari in his article ‘The struggling employed’ published in Pakistan Today on 21 February). While illustrating the story of Amir and the other low-income and low-skilled service industry workers, he brought our attention to one of the biggest predicaments that Pakistan is facing nowadays.
These people are entrapped in an incessant mesh of the struggle to make their survival possible. Given the huge proportion of income inequality prevalent in Pakistan, this is not just the case with a few people but more than half of the current population of Pakistan is suffering from this tragedy.
Considering the income bracket of these people, they are hardly meeting their basic necessities of life, in such a scenario how could they manage to send their children to schools and bear their incremental expenses? They don’t even have the money to afford health facilities required. This is indeed a dilemma of our country. The suggestions put forward by Dr Faisal Bari in his article are quite appropriate for that matter. Implementing the model of providing free health and education facilities to these under-privileged people will help them to overcome the sufferings of life.
This is where the role of the state comes in. Offering a decent medical services and taking care of education expenditures would cost money to the state but, be that as it may, there is an urgent need for this facility. If this initiative is taken properly, it will not only alleviate financial and psychological burden of those poor and lower-middle class families but also provide them an optimistic version of life. Hence, it would be a progressive step towards development and a better future for Pakistan.
GUL-I-HINA SHAHZAD
LUMS, Lahore
